Food and Drinq

Inflation! The Center City District's Restaurant Week, which had offered $30, three-course meals throughout its nearly five-year history, will cost patrons $35 a head for the winter edition, Jan. 27 to Feb. 1.

On paper, this deal still can be a bargain, as the tab for a three-course meal at many -- but not all -- of the restaurants can push $55. And keep in mind that alcohol, tax and tip are not included. (If you want to see smiles from the harried waitstaff, tip on what the meal "really" should cost.)

The CCD has posted an updated list of restos participating in its promotion (not to be confused, of course, with South Jersey Hot Chefs Restaurant Week).

This time, 110 restaurants are on board. Details on discount parking have not yet been released; last time out, Philadelphia Parking Authority and Philadelphia Parking Association garages were charging $7 or less.

Among the newcomers to the scene are Bindi (the cash-only Indian BYO from the Lolita crew that is due to open at 13th and Sansom in two weeks) and Joe Pesce (the less-formal reincarnation of Walnut Street's Pompeii),

See details here.

Crescent City...

You see this every December: Well-meaning people walk into restaurants, approach the host's stand with a wad of bills, and leave with gift certificates, which they'll hand out to friends and business associates. They'll smile and say thank you. And then, if tradition holds, they'll stuff the gift certificate in a drawer, to wait for a special occasion.

And then, months later, the recipients will read that the restaurant has closed.

... ¡Pasión! ...

They'll reach out to us and ask what to do with the gift certificate. To which the answer, in 99 percent of the cases, is along the lines of: "Apply glue to the back and use it to cover a crack in your wall. You're stuck."

We all love independent restaurants. They're the backbone of our economy and help define a city. They're also highly volatile businesses, subject to sudden closings. Owner retires to Thailand (Deux Cheminees). The celebrity chef creates a buzz-kill by taking a lucrative second job elsewhere (¡Pasión! ). Slow business (Pif, Crescent City). Owner burns out (La Vigna).

Ethical restaurateurs, who know that the restaurant is in its final days, will not sell gift certificates. (On the flip side, I remember that Odeon, once on 12th Street near Sansom, was selling gift certificates up to Christmas Eve 1994. It closed after New Year's Eve.)

But any given restaurant -- ethically run or not -- will have "paper" out on the street. State laws say that gift certificates never expire and that holders of certificates are truly creditors of the corporations that issue them. But hah. Try to collect on that. Striped Bass, at the time of its bankruptcy under Neil Stein, had more than $50,000 on the books. Toward the end of his run, Stein declined to honor certificates because he had donated many to charities and not been directly paid for then.

My recommendations: If you feel you have to buy a restaurant gift certificate, swallow pride and go to a chain. Marathon Grill has five locations. Iron Hill and Kildare's are popping up everywhere. The Stephen Starr restaurants' gift cards are good at each of his dozen places in Philly. Then, insist that the recipient to use it right away. Don't "wait for a special occasion." A free meal is a special occasion!

Or just take the recipient out to dinner and pick up the tab -- assuming you actually like the person.

Keith Wallace of the Wine School of Philadelphia, whose Fairmount "classroom" is jammed, has added an Old City location, inside Dan Soskin's Pinot Boutique at 227 Market St. (Great. Now you can step out the door and apply your new wine knowledge at Fork or Marmont.) The schedule of two-hour classes is here.

A venti problem, we'd say: The Starbucks at Penn (34th and Walnut Streets), one of the busiest shops in Philly, ran out of coffee cups this morning. Baristas gave out free coffee in courtesy cups for a couple of hours until a new supply arrived. A baristas cited an "inventory problem."

Bootsie's at 38 S. 19th St., one of the oddest Center City eateries, is down and out. For now, anyway.

The restaurant, a partnership between restaurateur Yair "Bootsie" Butz and TV writer Michael Conforti, started out in August 2006 as an upscale hot dog/hamburger shop.

That didn't fly, so a few months later, it was converted into more of a sit-down restaurant, with Mediterranean-continental cuisine. It shut down over the weekend. Its website says it's closed. Conforti says it suffered from an "identity crisis." Butz told me today that they're tying up loose ends and that they're planning to open a new restaurant elsewhere.

Watch one of Philly's most-acclaimed young chefs pick up not a knife but a sledgehammer. It's the start of demolition at Zahav.

"The Making of Zahav," The Inquirer's blog about the creation of a restaurant, continues here.

Here's a first look at G Lounge, which opened Thursday (12/6) for a VIP party and starts rolling tonight.

Mark Marek's subterranean, 400-capacity lounge -- no relation to the New York nightspot -- is beneath Davio's (17th and Chestnut), which provides the food. It's surprisingly not claustrophobia-inducing. Features: two DJ booths; many rooms, including a $500-a-table-minimum VIP area; much wood, porcelain, glass and stone (the requisite water wall); and the largest video wall outside of a sports stadium (seen in the photo).

The door to the old vault -- remember that this was a Provident Bank years ago -- has been cemented open (insurance requirement). Inside is a swank, members-only lounge called the Mogul Room.

Intended as an after-work hang (though I can see it as a killer party space because of the movable wall panels that can tailor the space to various specs), it's open Tuesdays through Saturdays, starting at 5 p.m. (215-564-1515).

Photo: (c) 2007 HughE Dillon, http://phillychitchat.blogspot.com/

Thursday's INQlings column contained a refererence to Saturday (12/8)'s planned "No Foie Gras Gala" organized by Hugs for Puppies and Professionals Against Foie Gras at the Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square. I mused that it would be ironic if the pro-foie gras forces would picket outside. Hugs for Puppies has been showing up for months outside various restaurants that serve foie gras. You know, turnabout is fair play and all that.

Turns out that Terry McNally, the brash co-owner of London Grill in Fairmount, will lead a protest outside the Ethical Society; in a further twist in this little drama, Hugs for Puppies was issued a restraining order over the summer to stay away from London Grill. Matthew Levin, chef at the nearby Lacroix and also a foie gras booster, will serve appetizers.

Blogger PhilaFoodie runs it down here, in a post whose headline I wish I'd written.

About 30 supporters of foie gras gathered outside the Ethical Society Saturday (12/8), where opponents of foie gras had gathered for a fund-raiser.

The street scene included a mix of restaurateurs and passersby, who ate foie gras canapes prepared by Lacroix chef Matt Levin. But one of the protesters was working for the other side.

Terry McNally, owner of London Grill and the head of the protest, notes that "Victor" walked up, put on a "Suck My Duck" T-shirt and shared the megaphone to get some chants going. Mostr popular: "Foie gras is here to stay. Nick Cooney stay away," a shot at Cooney, head of Hugs for Puppies and the city's leading foie gras protester.

At the end of the short rally, Victor walked toward the door of the Ethical Society and turned to McNally. He said with a grin: "Say no to foie gras," Victor is Victor Sjodin of West Philly -- an activist affiliated with Cooney.

Even McNally thought that was funny.

Interesting Saturday at Rouge on Rittenhouse Square as hot chef Eric Ripert (left), who's opening a restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton on Broad Street, stopped in for brunch with his wife, Sandra, and son, Adrien. (The handsome Frenchman has become a quasi-regular at Rouge.) This time in, he ordered the Rouge burger and steak tartare. Ripert is chef-partner of the award-winning New York's Le Bernardin.

Later on in the day, New York Giants' Jeremy Shockey came in for dinner with an attractive brunette -- supposedly not his girlfriend.

Now you know: The space that was Lena and then Bluezette at 246 Market St. in Old City will become a contemporary Greek restaurant called Prive. More details in Thursday's "Table Talk" column.

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More crabcakes: Bobby Chez's first Pennsylvania location opened a few weeks ago at 1352 South St., and the crabcake king is planning a grand opening with local pols and celebs at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Owner Robert Sliwowski is a few weeks from opening his largest location yet -- a sitdowner plus bar at the Shoppes at Brinton Lake in Glen Mills (Routes 202 and 1).

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Drink, drink: The Field House (1150 Filbert St.), a sports bar from the Public House partners across from Reading Terminal Market, is looking at a Dec. 18 opening.

New York Mag's Grub Street reports on a new Wall Street outpost of Haru, the Benihana-owned sushi-ist that also has a Philly spot at Third and Chestnut Streets plus six other locations in New York and one in Boston.

Of all the restaurants that have faded in the last 10 years, the one that people seem to care most about is Minar Palace, a hole in the wall at 1605 Sansom St. that was forced to close last year in the name of development. Owner Tarsem Singh is still working on a comeback, and the place in mind is a larger space at 1304 Walnut St. He told me today that everything hinges on an appearance next week before the city Zoning Hearing Board. Assuming the ruling is in his favor -- and odds are in his favor, because it's what appears to be a straightforward variance -- he hopes to get Minar up and running in 60 to 90 days. Meanwhile, if you crave Indian food (albeit dishes of a more upscale variety): Wednesday (12/12) will be opening night at Bindi, 105 S. 13th St., a BYO run by the partners who own Lolita.

Update: Yes, you can't hurry curry. The opening of Bindi has been delayed till Thursday 12/13, The dry run was Tuesday night, and they say they just want to refine a few things.

Week Six of "The Making of Zahav," in which The Inquirer chronicles the opening of a restaurant, continues here. This week, the partners and their work crew hit rock bottom.

You may have wondered: How do those guys do it -- be the executive chef of so many restaurants? Some guys delegate and shuttle like madmen among their holdings. Others carefully pick a successor, which is what Steven Cook and Michael Solomonov have done at Marigold Kitchen in West Philly. (And get this: Solomonov was one of Restaurant Hospitality mag's "Rising Star Chefs" in the December issue.)

They're elevating Erin O'Shea, 36, at left, whom they hired as sous chef a few months ago after she spent time studying with Jimmy Sneed at The Frog & the Redneck in Richmond, Va. Come new year's, she'll change the menu to "modern Southern," befitting the mansion that houses the restaurant. She's fond of small-time artisan companies from Virginia, and she puts up her own pickles and jams. Solomonov then will devote his time to Zahav.

Some dishes: Turnip soup with Virginia ham biscuits; seared cornbread with creamy collards and Virginia wigwam ham, topped with a sunny side up egg; pork tenderloin with creamed collards and house-pickled peaches; Virginia stone-ground grits with shrimp; chicken liver toast with house-pickled celery and fig jam; scallops with tapioca pearls, mussels, and sweet potatoes; and chicken with house-made cornbread, pear stuffing, braised cipollini onions and mustard greens.

Dinner for two will cost about $60.

Dropped into Bindi (105 S.13th St.) for a look-see tonight (12/13) on its public opening. And I was shocked. Expected lines out the door from the first-night crowd eager to shriek "firsties!" to their foodie friends.

At 7 p.m., you could waltz right in.

Keep in mind: It's cash-only and BYOB. No reservations. Owners are Marcie Turney (the chef) and Valerie Safran (front of the house) from Lolita across the street.

Dining room is dim and romantic, simple. Plain dark tabletops, white napkins. A few hanging light fixtures. (I have to get the techies to post my video, and I'm not entirely sure the quality will be great, because of the lack of light.)

Had papdi chaat ($7), top left, from the "namkeen" or small plates menu. It's a composed salad of shaved apple, mango, cucumber and radish,with chickpea papdi, sprouted bean -- yes, I'm copying from the menu -- tamarind chutney and yogurt and topped with a lotus chip. My position on lotus has always been twisted.

Also had the allepy-style mahi curry ($20) from the "kadais" (entrees) menu. These dishes are served over basmati rice in decorative kadai copper pots that I'm sure someone will try to take home. The mahi (bottom) was sauteed in sesame oil, yard beans, coconut milk and mango, and topped with allepo chilis.

Here's the rest of the menu, spell-check be damned:

Namkeen
pappadom and chutneys: cumin-spiced lentil chips, tamarind-date chutney, cilantro-mint chutney, $4

gobni shorva: cauliflower-celery root soup, garam masala, fenugreek pesto, curry oil, $7

pani puri: Bengali five-spice roasted duck, ajwain sweet potato, mixed sprouts, "spicy cranberry water," $8

mussels bhindi gozzoo: black mustard seed, okra, tamarind-tomato broth, grilled curry-chili bread, $11

kofta: chili-ginger lamb meatballs, cinnamon-star anise spiced, tomato-yogurt sauce, $9

parsnip paneer samosa: traditional spices, caramelized onion, cashew, boondi raita: $7

Kadais

ghosht: milk-braised lamb shank, Punjabi cabbage, dal mahkni, $24

chana masala chicken: fenugreek-cumin marinaded chicken, ginger, chickpea masala yogurt, $17

sarsoon-saag paneer: fresh Indian cheese, urad dal, ground cashew, mustard greens, herbed-spinach puree, $18

dhansak: paris lamb and four dal stew, butternut squash, eggplant, cauliflower, $18

shortrib vindaloo "do piaza": red-wine jaggery braised shortrib, dal mahkani, carrot kosambri, nigella pickled red onion, $22

shrimp and winter vegetable sambar: rich toasted coconut and toor dal stew, curry leaf, sambar spices, winter vegetables, $21 (or $16 for a vegan version)

vegetarian thali: cucumber raita, dal mahkani, sarsoon paneer, Punjabi cabbage, basmati, fire-roasted papad and mango chutney, $20 (it can be made vegan)

Roti (bread)

saag chapati (spinach garlic); lentil; or paratha (potato-dill stuffed), $4

Sides

chana masala, $3
dal mahkni, $3
minted-cucumber raita, $2
boondi (chickpea crisps), $2
mango-mustard seed chutney, $2
tamarind-jaggery chutney, $2
cilantro-mint chutney, $2

Swallow, the Euro-style BYO bistro in the Liberties Walk development in Northern Liberties, will not be opening Saturday 12/15 as scheduled. Jason and Cindy Caminos are back in her hometown of Chicago after a tragic death in her family. She'll stay out over Christmas. He plans to be back next week to continue preparing for the opening, which will now be in January.

If you've passed through Chinatown at night recently, you've noticed lights glowing from the second floor of a double storefront at 211 N. 11th St., just south of Lee How Fook and Vietnam. Looking closer, you see what appears to be a big TV screen showing bright graphics.

It's karaoke, and it will be a big part of the action at Yakitori Boy, which should open in the next few weeks, once the liquor license goes through. The place is just about finished.

The owner showed me around, but declined my request to photograph. The first floor has a 90-seat dining room and what appears to be two sushi bars, in addition to a drinkin' bar. In fact, there's one sushi bar and a yakitori bar, at which cooks will prepare chicken meat on a stick over grills. The word "japas" on their stationery is a pun on "Japanese tapas."

Upstairs, visible from the street, is another bar with a karaoke machine and big-screen TV. Lining the halls, though, are seven or so private booths filled with karoake equipment. The idea is to grab a few friends over drinks and sing till you're hoarse.

Actor Mark Wahlberg, in the area shooting the movie "The Lovely Bones," made good on his promise to attend Q102 morning personality Chris Booker's Toys for Tots fund-raiser Friday night at Kildare's on Head House Square. Wahlberg created a near-stampede, and seemed most hygienically aware as he wore thick gloves while shaking hands. Booker and Kildare's owner Dave Magrogan report collecting more than 1,000 toys and more than $1,000 in cash from the event. Among those at the event were CBS3/WOGL traffic guy Bob Kelly, CBS3's Alycia Lane and Q102 morning sidekick Diego.

That's Wahlberg in plaid, with (from left) Magrogan, Phillies marketing man Mike Harris and Booker.

Photos by HughE Dillon

1.Click here to see photo > Mark Wahlberg (right) talks on a fan's cell phone to her friend, while Q102's Booker wards off the crowd.

2. Click here to see photo >Mark Wahlberg sees the crowd waiting outside the VIP room at Kildare's. With a police escort, he waded through to address the event.

3. Click here to see photo >Mark Wahlberg greets a crush of fans at Kildare's at Head House Square.

4. Click here to see photo >Mark Wahlberg wears gloves while shaking hands with his fans. Q102's Chris Booker is at left, and Kildare's owner Dave Magrogan is at right. Wahlberg and Booker are using wireless microphones.

5. Click here to see photo >Mark Wahlberg, Chris Booker (center) and Vince Papale (right). Wahlberg played the part of Papale in the recent movie, "Invincible."

Since the once-red-hot Marabella's folded in 1996, the restaurants that have occupied the second level of the Academy House (1420 Locust St.) have been a boring lot. A Chinese place that lasted 10 minutes, a comfort-fooder that lasted five, various Italian concepts, a barbecue joint that literally stank out the building. Dogs all.

The latest entry, opening Thursday (12/20), seems to have the most potential. It's called Kaizan: Modern Japanese Cuisine -- a modification of its working name (Kai). Concept is based on the formal Japanese dining style called kaiseki, but the look -- based on a late-construction walk-through led by general manager Joseph DePalma -- is sexy.

Banquettes line the multicolored wall to the left as you walk in. There's a small, glass-doored wine storage room; they'll serve 18 by the glass ($9 to $12), and an additional 50 bottles (most under $60). There also will be a sake list and a small grouping of specialty cocktails.

Through a beaded curtain are tables in that black wood that everyone's doing today. The dining room is smaller than you may remember. Owner Jonathan Chun, who has Fuji Mountain on Chestnut Street, shrank it to install a small outdoor patio that overlooks the building's entrance on Locust. Toward the back is a drinking bar; behind that is a spacious sushi bar. Servers will wear black, specially fitted chef's jackets.

Plates will be $10 to $20, and they'll be pushing ever-changing tasting menus: $55 for five courses, $70 for seven and $95 for nine. Each course is based on a cooking technique, such as broiled, steamed, fried and reduction.

A few samples: Kobe Tataki (seared, thinly sliced Kobe beef topped with Korean pear puree, edamame, and sliced seaweed); lobster tobinyaki (half cut lobster grilled in a ceramic bowl with white miso sauce); kamo dobinmushi (duck breast, enoki mushrooms, steamed in a tea pot with dashi broth); and otoro Ishiyaki (otoro you cook on a stone grill set up on the table).

At left is the tea pot that the kamo dobinmushi cooks in with the broth. To serve, you pour the broth into the dish at left and use your chopsticks to pick duck meat out of the pot.

Kaizan, open nightly, is taking reservations through OpenTable.

Below: a portion of the banquettes.

Philly's poshest restaurant, Le Bec-Fin, and the bar beneath it, Le Bar Lyonnais, are cutting out daily lunch service, starting in January. Lunch will be served only Fridays and Saturdays; dinner will continue as usual, Mondays through Saturdays.

Chef-owner Georges Perrier said through a spokeswoman that both rooms will be available for private lunch parties, and for occasional special-occasion lunches.

"The reason for this decision can mostly be attributed to Chef Perrier’s heartfelt dedication to his high culinary standards and his zest for life," says the spokeswoman.

Read into this three things: 1. Fine dining just ain't what it used to be. There's enough lunch business to support two days of service. 2. Perrier and partner Chris Scarduzio are preparing for the expected May '08 opening of Table 31 in the new Comcast Center, and they can't be everywhere at once. 3. At 64 and with a new wife, Perrier wants more "moi" time.

Philly Weekly's Adam Erace lets on that Makers Local, a bar that opened in August on 13th Street just below Spring Garden, has changed hands and is now Canavan's. (Not to be confused with Cavanaugh's.)

Canada turns out good hockey players. But wines? Wayne Gretzky, the hockey phenom-turned coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, recently got into the wine business with Gretzky Estate Wines. Ol' number 99 is gunning for a big launch, and Aramark is bringing the '06 chardonnay and '06 merlot into the Wachovia Center's new steakhouse, Cadillac Grille. (It's open to premium seatholders.) When the Coyotes were in town earlier this week, he signed 36 bottles, which will be used in a promotion. The wines are not yet on the LCB list, so the center may be the first place in Pennsy to offer it. They're charging $12 a glass or $49 a bottle.

Haven't read any review in the big wine mags yet, but blogger HockeyDirt is only mildly impressed with the merlot, which he likens to "a useful 3rd line winger - the oenophilic equivalent of the journeyman winger - well prepared, professional, responsible but not flashy, and at $15.95 a reasonable Cap hit."

Pennsport, that working-class slice of South Philly hard by Delaware Avenue below Washington, has had two recent entries.

The Ugly American (1100 S. Front St., 215-336-1100), a dark and manly gastropub with a intriguing all-American wine list (mostly Californians), replaces La Vigna at Front and Federal. Kevin Kelly, a former manager with Avram Hornik's Four Corners joints (Bar Noir, Drinkers Pub, Lucy's, Loie) has installed Loie alum David Gilberg as chef, doing an all-American menu. (Oooh, wait. There's some French. The "blue nose bass" menu description calls it a "fricassee of mussels, bacon, yams and caramelized onions.)

It's open nightly from 5 p.m., plus Sundays for brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bar menu tops out at $10; entrees run $17 to $23. Homemade ice cream from pastry chef Carla Gilberg is among a serious dessert selection. Lots of parking on the street.

Photo is a mural made of license plates.

Peppercorns has opened at 1401 E. Moyamensing Ave. (267-322-3000) on that wide corner of Reed, Moyamensing and Third Street. This bright, comfy newcomer is more of a restaurant with a mirror-backed bar. Chef Joe Ling's last turn was at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. ("Ling" has a familiar ring? His son Greg is working at Django now, after turns at Deuce, Raw and Rx.)

He's doing a straightforward menu of apps (Asian chicken spring rolls, wings, calamari, mussels, etc.) and entrees (sauteed shrimp-and-scallops, pan-seared filet mignon, porkchop, braised short rib, cornmeal-crusted rainbow trout, crab cakes). Most are in the high teens, with gusts into the $20s. Owners are business guy Steve Pollack and caterer/longshoreman Dan Gallagher. (If Gallagher's name has a familiar ring, go here.)
Peppercorns' opening hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, but a late-night menu and expanded days are on the way, Pollack says.

It's been a wacky week, what with what's-her-name getting arrested. The next "Making of Zahav" entry will go up over the weekend. Lots of pictures. Thanks for your patience.

Meanwhile, here's a sneak peek (it's Steven Cook's hand):

Pearl -- filling the old Little Pete's at 1904 Chestnut St. -- is on the radar as the city's midwinter restau-lounge opening.

I'm hearing that this two-story Asian fusion, designed by DAS Architects, will be ready shortly, but that the owners (Red Sky's David, Scott and Sean Stein and nightlife impresario/attorney Brett Perloff) plan to shake out the bugs before it opens in late January-early February.

How radical.

That's DAS's rendering at right. Here are a few ideas from the working menu of chef Ari Weiswasser (ex-Gilt, Daniel and Picholine in New York City, and most recently Striped Bass):

•Peking duck springroll, Asian vegetables, Chinese mustard mayonnaise
•Citrus marinated hamachi, cumin-nori mustard, Asian pear
•Broiled miso cod, sweet and sour scallion, shiso
•King Prawns, kaffir lime, Coconut rice, Asian bouillabaisse
•Stir fry cashew chicken, Asian vegetables, jasmine rice, oyster sauce, scallion

For the first time in eons, Ed and Midge Rendell missed Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal's holiday party. They had their own party: an engagement party at the Kimmel Center for their son, Jesse, and his longtime girlfriend, Becca. He's still in law school, so the wedding will be in the fall. Midge Rendell's featured-vocalist's role at the party on "Twelve Days of Christmas" (she handles "five golden rings") was handled by Mayor-elect Michael Nutter, whose voice is excellent. ("Food & Drinq"? Well, they ate and dranq.)

In the seventh installment of The Inquirer's series on the creation of a restaurant, we look at tile. See it here.

December is usually the busiest month of the year for openings. 2007 is no exception.

The latest -- which opened last night (12/26) -- is The Field House, a sports bar filling the space that was Independence Brewing Co. on Filbert Street across from Reading Terminal Market. It's operated by the crew from the Public House and Mission Grill.

Two other bars rolled out this month:

The Irish Times presents yet another attempt at something at Second and Bainbridge, the corner spot that last housed the Black Door after a series including Pyrenees, Allie's Jazz Bistro, Las Cazuelas Tan-Bien, and Terra Nostra. (Suggested best use for this odd, bilevel space: A swim club-slash-lounge. That's right. Just flood the lower level. Swimsuit optional.)

Up the street, at Second and South, is the days-old Paddy Whacks, filling the former Monte Carlo Living Room.

Other December openings:

Peppercorns: An American with bar, is new at 1401 E. Moyamensing Ave. in the Pennsport section of South Philly.

Kaizan: Sexy Japanese in the Academy House (1420 Locust St.), specializing in the multicourse dining style called kaiseki.

Bindi: Upscale, modern Indian BYOB from the Lolita team.

Javier . A continental BYO in Haddonfield from the Sanabrias, who also own Collingswood's' Word of Mouth.

David's on Main: A 22-year-old's third restaurant operation: a continental, "supper club-style" BYO in Moorestown.

If you lump lounges into the restaurant category, there's G Lounge beneath the Rite Aid and Davio's at 17th and Chestnut; food is dumbwaitered down from Davio's.

I'll post a look at 2008's openings next week.

Wash West-ers may remember the Jin House, one of three casual restaurants that occupied the ground floor of the apartment building at 11th and Spruce Streets until the wee hours of Aug. 6, 2003. That's when a spectacular, six-alarm fire destroyed the building. (A half-dozen people were plucked from windows by firefighters; amazingly no one was seriously injured, but eight people, including two firefighters, sought treatment for smoke inhalation and other injuries at Jeff.)

I'm not sure where the other restaurants -- Islas or Where Else? -- relocated, but I can tell you that Tony Zheng is readying his Jin House for a mid-January opening at 1117 Locust St., next to More Than Just Ice Cream. Same low-priced BYO concept, he says.

Photo Tom Kelly IV / For The Inquirer

In the eighth installment of "The Making of Zahav," we meet the architect, Elisabeth Knapp. See the story about the creation of the Society Hill restaurant here.

Michael O'Halloran of Old City's Bistro 7 has spilled the name of the restaurant-lounge he's rolling out at 13th and Waverly Streets, near Pine. (Here's the Food & Drinq entry from Oct. 16.) He's calling it The Waverly. Press materials describe further:

Michael O’Halloran, chef-owner of beloved 30-seat neighborhood gem Bistro 7 in Old City, will open a second restaurant, The Waverly (412-426 South 13th Street). Located in a newly refurbished space in Midtown Village, The Waverly kitchen will apply French techniques to American ingredients. The refined fare will highlight Chef O’Halloran’s creative approach to straightforward dishes. The room’s elegant design will feature dark wood, banquettes and modern chandeliers. A fireside bar and lounge will provide a place to relax over cocktail classics.

What's the hottest table in the area, and possibly the country? It's the "farm table" set up in the back of Talula's Table, a gourmet grocery/cafe in Kennett Square. It seats full parties of 8 to 12, who pay $85 a head for Bryan Sikora's 8-course tasting menus and Aimee Olexy's cheese board.

Just after The Inquirer's Craig LaBan raved back in mid-October, it's been impossible to get a reservation. The owners closed the books at July 31, 2008. But on Jan. 2 -- Wednesday morning at 7 a.m., to be precise -- the book will be reopened from Aug. 1, 2008, to Jan. 2, 2009, as The Inquirer's Michael Klein explains in a story in Sunday's Inquirer (12/30).

Here's the video from LaBan's review.

Photo is of "the book" -- actually a gigantic wall calendar in the back room of Talula's.

In good economies and bad, there is a never-ending crop of chefs and investors, gobs of cash in hand, willing to give it a go.

And so they do.

And so we look ahead at what 2008 holds.

If bigger is better, three openings will be outstanding.

* Stephen Starr's Parc will put 275 seats, plus 90 outside, at 18th and Locust Streets at the Parc Rittenhouse, the former Sheraton Rittenhouse Square. The French bistro, whose working name was Parc Bistro, will encompass the former Bleu and Potcheen, and serve breakfast (a Starr first), lunch, dinner and late-night. Starr (left), who will have a hand in at least four other new restaurants in 2008, says "May" for Parc's debut.

* Georges Perrier and Chris Scarduzio's Table 31, a steakhouse bistro on three levels of Center City's new Comcast Center, will offer a la carte dining for 200, plus private dining for groups small to large (15 to 400 people). Soft opening is penciled in for May 2. The duo own Brasserie Perrier in Center City and Mia in Atlantic City; Perrier (left) owns Le Bec-Fin in Center City, while Scarduzio (right) is promising to open a solo venture in Atlantic City.

* Suburban restaurateurs (including Scott Morrison and brothers Terence and Patrick Feury) are behind the long-in-the-works Maia (789 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova), which will be a bilevel, Euro-style fine-dining restaurant (140 seats), bar (80 seats), and cafe/market (60 seats). Cuisine will feature East Coast and “new Nordic” influences, so you might say there’s a fjord in your future. Or you might not.
Opening is scheduled for March, and the first event will be a fund-raiser. (That's Terence Feury at left, and Patrick Feury at right.)

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Before the list of openings, two news items:

* An alphanumeric pairing: Ryan Margolis, who opened 707 at 707 Chestnut St. in April, and Jayson Grossberg (left), who'd been running Alphabet Soup in Audubon, Camden County. Grossberg, who won critical acclaim not only from the New York Times' Jersey section but The Inquirer's Craig LaBan, is now in the kitchen at 707 as chef, amping up the new-American menu. He’ll use the Alphabet Soup space for private parties.

* David Katz, who gathered great notices behind the stove at Restaurant M before a very short turn at Silk City, is outfitting the former Sandy's luncheonette at 24th and Locust Streets. Katz (right) and partner Andrew Krouk, who owns the bricks, are shooting for May or June, and there will be a liquor license. Name and concept are still to come.